Last Laugh
by Crimson Tides
Summary: Naraku has done something to Kagome and the group can't figure out what it is. Her powers are growing and she's becoming something else. But it's not like Naraku would do anything that the group could use against him...What does he have up his sleeves? IK
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I own Inuyasha about as much as my dog owns Harry Potter.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Naraku…you bastard…" Inuyasha whispered, pushing against the barren grounds they currently fought on, and wincing at his new injury. Naraku kicked Inuyasha in the gaping wound in his stomach, making him gasp in pain and crumple again towards the ground.

"Stay down," Naraku hissed menacingly.

Sango and Miroku were busy fighting Naraku's minions, and Shippo, along with Kirara, had stayed at Kaede's. Yet Kagome wasn't doing much of anything, much to her dismay. Inuyasha and Naraku were fighting with such speed that she couldn't make a clear shot without possibly wounding Inuyasha. Even though she now had a clear shot, she was much too terrified that Inuyasha was going to die for her to aim straight.

Naraku suddenly turned to grin insidiously at Kagome, making her face lose what little color it had left, and he pulled something unidentifiable from his robes.

"No! Stay away from her!" Inuyasha shouted, trying to pull himself from the ground, but he fell again with a wince. "Don't you dare touch her, I'm your opponent!"

Naraku acted as though he hadn't heard Inuyasha.

"And to conclude this battle, my dear Kagome, I will take the thing you cherish most." Said Naraku, ignoring Inuyasha's protests.

Kagome shot a fearful look towards Inuyasha, who was still fighting against his pain as he was settling himself into a crouching position, holding his stomach that bled freely.

Naraku laughed, "No, he will not die…yet. I plan on taking something else from you…your humanity."

"What?" Asked Kagome, staring at him in confusion.

"You soon shall see," and Naraku fired a dart at her before she could react, just as Inuyasha propped himself on a nearby tree to stand.

Kagome's hand went to her neck, and she gently murmured a quiet, "oh," before collapsing.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, and he ran towards her as though instantly healed. Naraku turned to Inuyasha as he grimaced while crouching to check if Kagome was okay. "What'd you do? Poison her? I thought you were supposed to be strong," he said, determinedly keeping the worry out of his voice.

He stood in front of Kagome protectively to keep Naraku away from her. His hand was over his stomach injury as a vain attempt to get it to stop bleeding.

Naraku ignored his statement. "I trust you'll stay alive, Inuyasha, Kagome may need your support. Thank Kikyo for that little potion contained in the dart…her jealousy for Kagome has risen to a point where she despises her enough to help me." That being said, Naraku left with Inuyasha glaring at his retreating back.

Inuyasha yanked the dart from Kagome's neck. She didn't look like she was dying…

Sango and Miroku ran over to them. Miroku had a deep scratch above his eye and a large bruise on his arm, but other than that, he was fine. Sango, however, was cradling one of her arms and looked very exhausted.

"They all left," said Miroku, referring to Naraku's minions.

"What happened to Kagome?" Asked Sango. "She doesn't look injured anywhere."

"I don't know what happened," Inuyasha admitted, "but Naraku turned tail, and I can't carry Kagome."

"I'll take her," offered Miroku. Inuyasha sent a distrusting look towards him. Miroku held up his hands in defense. "I swear in my honor I will not do anything to Kagome that would upset you. I'm the only one uninjured right now; Sango broke her arm."

Inuyasha gave him a skeptical look before sighing. "Alright, you win, but if you do anything to her…"

"Trust me, I don't touch injured ladies."

Sango snorted, but didn't say anything.

"I trust you about as far as I can throw you…" Inuyasha mumbled. He stepped back and allowed the monk to lift Kagome.

"Then that must mean you must trust me very much."

"It's an expression, meaning I _don't _trust you."

"Let's just get going…I want to get away from here." Said Sango exasperatedly.

"Alright, alright." Inuyasha grumbled, wincing with each step. "Thank Kami that Kaede isn't far." He murmured.

After about a half-an-hour walk in agony, the group finally arrived at the hut. It was night, and the full moon was partially hidden behind angry dark clouds.

Inuyasha stumbled inside, almost falling on the floor, still clutching his stomach. The blood had stopped, but if Inuyasha had so much as pulled himself upright, the gash would have reopened.

"Ah, I see ye have gotten yourselves into a mess," Kaede stood up shakily. "I'll have ye all bandaged in no time."

Miroku entered last carrying Kagome. "Naraku shot her with a dart of some sort. We think she might be poisoned," he explained.

"Kikyo made the potion in the dart for Naraku." Inuyasha said weakly from the ground. "Out of her jealousy for Kagome. Or so Naraku says. For all I know, it's a bunch of bullshit to get me all worked up about it and to go kill Kikyo or something."

"I see," Kaede replied insightfully. "Well, put her on the futon, I'll take a look at her. In the meantime, Inuyasha, come here. That's a rather nasty wound that could be fatal, even to you."

"Feh." Inuyasha replied, disgruntled. Kaede smiled and swiftly bandaged his torso.

Within an hour, Inuyasha had his stomach wound bound, Sango's arm in a splint, and Miroku had a bandage above his left eye. Kaede was now examining Kagome, going "Hmm," and "Ah," as she prodded her. Inuyasha was biting his tongue to keep himself from cursing the woman for taking so long.

"Well, I have no clue as to what is wrong with her," said Kaede suddenly. The group regarded her with deadpanned looks.

Inuyasha snorted. "Stupid old hag."

"All I can tell you is she most likely won't die. In fact, she seems to be gaining strength. Did Naraku leave any hints as to what he was planning?"

"He said somethin' about 'taking away her humanity.' Whatever that means." Replied Inuyasha.

"Hmm…" Kaede replied again. "We'll wait a few days and see what happens. Maybe then we will be able to tell."

Inuyasha grunted, and rested his head on the wall. Miroku tried to inconspicuously wrap his arms around Sango, but she smacked his hands away.

"This isn't the time, Houshi." She chastised.

Shippo was already curled up asleep by the fire after being assured that Kagome was fine. "Nothing…to worry about…" He murmured in his peaceful slumber, turning his back to the warm flames.

* * *

Kagome woke up groggily the next morning, feeling like she would rather go back to sleep, until she remembered the day before, specifically about Inuyasha's gaping wound, and of Naraku laughing.

She suddenly sprang out of the bed. "INUYASHA!"

"What're you screaming about, wench? I'm right here," he answered by her doorway. "You better lie back down though before you hurt yourself."

"I'm so happy you're alright," she said cheerfully, ignoring his request. "I thought that you were…never mind. I don't want to lie back down though, I feel great!"

"That's the problem…Naraku shot you with a dart and it had some sort of potion in it. Kaede said you've had tremendous muscle gain lately, and that's just from lying down. I'm not sure what could happen if you start walking and running around. Feh, stupid wench, always getting yourself into trouble."

Just as Inuyasha said this, Kagome hissed suddenly, grabbing her leg as a searing pain shot through it.

"See what I mean? So go lie down. I don't want to have to save you every time you trip."

"I'm fine, just a small spasm." Replied Kagome, and she walked out of the room. Inuyasha glared at her, worried and angry at the same time. (Though, the dominant feature was anger.)

"Damn it, bitch, can't you listen to me? Somehow you've been gaining a huge amount of muscle mass, and you've been sleeping the whole time. But even now, you're still gaining even if you don't look like it. It could cause some serious problems, considering we don't know what's wrong right now!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Said Kagome, breathing heavily. She had no clue why she suddenly felt so frustrated, so suffocated, as though she was trapped in a hot, stuffy closet with no room to move. "I just can't sit around doing nothing—I can't just lay there all day—"

Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow. "Well, we're not doing anything except for eating breakfast."

"OSUWARI!"

Inuyasha slammed into the ground, cursing. "Damn it, wench, what was that for? I didn't even do anything!"

Kagome glared at him and stormed past, leaving him clueless.

"I'm going home!" she shouted suddenly, then ran from the hut.

Miroku sighed, and said, "What did you do this time, Inuyasha?"

"Nothing!" Inuyasha protested, "I just told her we were eating breakfast, and all of a sudden she went crazy on me, the stupid bitch."

"Mhm…sure." Miroku replied absently.

Inuyasha growled at him.

* * *

"Mama! Souta!" Kagome shouted, kicking off her shoes as she walked into the kitchen. "I'm home!"  
  
"Hey, Kagome." Said Souta distractedly, playing his video game. Kagome's mother rounded the corner, and hugged Kagome. 

"Are you going to be home for awhile, or do you just want to re-pack?" She asked.

"I think I'm going to spend a few days at school," Kagome replied. "Can I take a bath?"  
  
"Don't you want breakfast?"  
  
"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Well, alight, if you say so. I'll keep Souta downstairs so he won't bother you."

"Thanks, Mama." Kagome smiled, and headed up the stairs to settle in her bathtub, hoping it would thaw out her current muscle cramps.

Kagome's fingers had begun to prune. She had nearly spent an hour in the steaming tub, but it was so _soothing. _Her limbs didn't nearly hurt as much as they did while she was out of the tub.

She down further into the warm water until most of her head was submerged. Kagome was tempted to sleep in the tub; it was very relaxing…

She spent around another half-hour in the tub, until reluctantly getting out to dress and study.

Later that night, Kagome's mother had made teriyaki chicken and rice; she could even smell it from her bedroom, and couldn't resist joning her family for dinner.

But after eating, for some odd reason, her canines began to hurt. It was just this odd pain shooting through them. Kagome brushed her teeth, hoping she wasn't getting cavities, (after all, ever since she had been in the Warring States Era, she hadn't seen the dentist.)

Finally, Kagome went to bed in a state of confusion at all the odd occurrences, and a slight anxiety at going to school instead of going back to the Feudal Era with Inuyasha.

"Kagome! You're going to be late!"  
  
"I'm coming!" Said Kagome as she performed the daily struggle of putting on shoes and brushing her teeth at the same time. She grabbed her book bag and darted out the door towards her school. She immediately muffled a groan as Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi headed her way.

"Hey Kagome!" Called Eri excitedly.

"We heard about how you had a kidney failure," said Yuka, "We're glad you're back though!"

Kagome personally vowed to beat her grandfather over his head with a stick when she got home.

"Erm…yeah. Right."

"Oh wow," Ayumi said suddenly, "You have a gray hair! Must be from all that stress." She plucked it out of Kagome's hair, and showed it to her.

It was a long strand of bright silver hair. Kagome instinctively grabbed a fistful of her hair to make sure there weren't any more.

"Hey guys, I've got to go to geometry class before I'm late."

All three of them winced, and said simultaneously, "good luck Kagome!"

Kagome smiled lightly, and walked inside. _Am I too stressed? Maybe I do stress out for my tests a little, but surely that couldn't give a fifteen-year old girl gray hairs, right? _Kagome thought to herself as she slowly descended to her math class.

She didn't notice the small twinges on her head, nails or teeth.

* * *

There you go, first chapter! And the first Inuyasha fanfic I've ever written. Bravo to me. :) Please review!

By the way—_don't_ think Naraku is stupid enough to do something that could provide as an advantage to the group. He has other plans for Kagome.


	2. What the hell?

AN: Uhm, yeah, this was a stupid idea. ;; Oh well. ;Twiddles thumbs and continues writing;

* * *

Kagome tapped her fingers on her desk as her teacher continued on about formulas and equations that Kagome was completely clueless about.

Kagome suddenly noticed that her fingers were making tiny dents on the desk.

"Huh?" Kagome said quietly...there was something different about her fingernails. She put them close to her face to study them, and noticed that they seemed to be reshaping themselves, slowly, but surely.

And they were coming to a point.

"What the…" Kagome murmured, staring intently at her nails, and viewing them at every angle with fascination.

"Kagome, is there something you would like to share with us?" Snapped the teacher suddenly. Kagome jumped from the call of her name.

"U-Um, no, Sensei, I just need to go to the…nurse. I'm not feeling good." Kagome replied, giving a weak little cough. She had a sudden feeling that she wouldn't want to be among twenty-eight other students in a few moments.

Kagome's teacher pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and shot Kagome a stern look. "Very well, with your…history, I suppose that is to be expected. You are excused."

Once Kagome was away from the classroom, she started to run towards the girl's bathroom.

The entire way there, her ears popped every two seconds until everything was several times louder. She could hear the pencils scratching on papers in the classroom down the hall, and the cars zooming by on the highway. She could _smell _the exhaust from the cars speeding down the highway.

Kagome put her newly clawed hands over her ears, and nudged the bathroom door open with her foot. She checked the bottoms of all the stalls, making sure that she was alone.

Then, all of a sudden, Kagome wrentched open the door to a bathroom stall, and closed her eyes as she heaved, feeling like she was trying to cough up a lung. Or two. She must have been at it for about fifteen minutes, until Kagome collapsed face-down on the floor, ignoring how filthy it was. After around another fifteen miserable minutes, Kagome shakily picked herself up, and winced at her veiw of the toilet. It was full of blood. Kagome exited the stall met the mirror directly in front of her, showing the reflection of someone who looked a lot like Kagome, but with very large differences.

Kagome gasped when she realized it was herself.

Her hair was gradually changing silver strand by strand, her eyes had shifted color from brown to amber, fangs were slowly growing from the canines in her mouth, and small, pointy appendages were beginning to form on her head. She was starting to look like a more feminine version of Inuyasha.

Kagome quickly muffled a scream.

"Oh my God, oh my God…" she repeated under her breath, breathing deeply as an attempt to calm down. She closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again, but her normal reflection didn't return. "I can't let anyone see me like this," she whispered, amber eyes darting across the room, searching for an exit.

She was saved as she saw a small tiny window by the ceiling, but she had no way to get there. Kagome tried to jump, and even though she could reach it, she realized that there was no ledge to grasp.

"Eureka!" Kagome exclaimed as she spotted a trashcan. She seized it by the handles and flipped it over, ignoring the trash the spilled out from the bottom. The window was locked, so Kagome, acting on instinct, punched it with her fist. It shattered and it made Kagome's hand bleed freely. "Kuso…" She murmured lightly, quickly brushing glass off the ledge and climbing through it. She looked down. Her school building was three stories high, and she, coincidentally, was on the third story.

Kagome wriggled as fast as she could from the window, and crouched on the windowsill. With a fluttering feeling in her gut, she realized one of her ears flicked towards the bathroom door as someone entered. Said person screamed and ran back out, probably to alert a teacher, thinking Kagome was another student trying to commit suicide. Kagome closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped.

It was like she was floating rather than falling, and instead of meeting an impact that would've knocked anyone else unconscious; Kagome landed lightly, as though it was a jump from a car rather than a three-story-high building. She bit her lip, took one last anxious look towards her school, and ran home.

Kagome arrived at the shrine a little while later, thankful that many people weren't outside. The ones who were outside didn't pay much attention to her. She walked up the steps slowly, wondering what to say to her mother.

"Er—Mama? Are you here?"

"Kagome? What are you doing home from—" Kagome's mother dropped the soapy pan that she had been washing to the floor as she looked at her daughter, and her face went pale in seconds. She gaped soundlessly at Kagome until Kagome rubbed her neck.

"Um…" Kagome started, but Mrs. Higurashi interrupted.

"Kagome?" She asked. "What happened? You look like…"

"Yeah, I know. And I don't know what happened, but listen to me," said Kagome quickly. "A-Act like I haven't come home from school. I can't go back to school now, obviously…S-so pretend that I'm missing, alright? I have to go ask Inuyasha what's going on."

Mrs. Higurashi nodded in understanding, and slowly picked the frying pan off the ground, still looking a little flustered. "Are you sure?"

"I wish I wasn't, but yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, I understand. But just because you can't go back to school doesn't mean you can't come back to visit us. And don't worry—I'll warn your grandfather before you come back."

"Thanks," Kagome replied, hugging her mother. "I'll be back late next week, just let me pack my bag really fast."

"Does this mean my grandchildren will have ears like yours?" Kagome's mother called after her.

"MOM!"

* * *

Kagome packed her backpack, and briefly hugged her mother goodbye, before disappearing down the well. The blue light engulfed her as always, and she climbed her way out of the well. (Even though jumping would've been easier, she didn't want to have been reminded about what had happened to her.)

Meanwhile, Miroku, Shippo, and Inuyasha were sitting lazily under a tree. Sango and Kirara had gone to help Kaede heal a few wounded villagers.

"Hey Inuyasha, is that Kagome's scent?"

"Yeh–no." Inuyasha changed his mind mid-sentence, then added, "Er…I don't know."

"I think it is her, but…she kinda smells like you, Inuyasha." Shippo looked perplexed as he said this, as though he had understood what he said at first, but the moment it came out of his mouth, the concept confused him.

Miroku elbowed Inuyasha and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Makes me wonder what you and Kagome do at night," he said.

"Get off, monk. We haven't 'done' anything." Inuyasha growled, shoving Miroku off of him. "Well, we'll wait and see if it is Kagome. Until then, I ain't moving."

Soon enough, the scent got stronger, and the crunch of grass reached Inuyasha's ears. Inuyasha listened intently to the slow, hesitant footsteps that approached them.

"Erm…hi everyone," said Kagome nervously as she reached the group.

Miroku's mouth dropped, Shippo looked confused, and Inuyasha promptly exclaimed, "What the hell?!"

Kagome shifted nervously, and straightened out her skirt, unsure of what to say.

"So this is what Naraku did to Kagome. But…why? Wouldn't that prove as an advantage to us?" Miroku said after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

Kagome sat down next to Inuyasha and twisted her hair with her finger, still unaccustomed to the color. "I dunno, maybe he thought it would make me miserable?"

"Does it?" Asked Inuyasha curiously.

"Kind of…I can't go back to school now, or see my friends over there…ever." Kagome sighed, as though annoyed. "They all think I ran away now. I told my mother to pretend I was missing."

Another uncomfortable silence engulfed them.

"I think there is more to this than Naraku's letting on," said Miroku insightfully after a few minutes.

"What if…" Kagome said, furrowing her eyebrows, "What if…I don't have priestess abilities anymore? I mean, you can't be a priestess and a demon at the same time, can you?"

"She's right," replied Miroku. "But the only way we'll know is if you can still see the shards."

"If she can't, we're in trouble." Said Inuyasha. "I wonder if any other priestesses can see jewel fragments?" 

"Kikyo," Kagome replied bitterly.

"True, but I don't think it would be best if she was in our group." Said Miroku, with a sideways glance at Kagome. "Naraku hinted that she might have been the one that created the potion that turned you into a well…a hanyou. And then there's the little factor that she wants to drag Inuyasha to hell."

"I wasn't talking about her," Inuyasha replied, flushing angrily. "It's not like she would join us anyway."

"Well, we don't even know if I can or can't yet, so let's not go there." Kagome replied, pulling the yellow book bag off her back, and fishing through it.

Kagome pulled the jar of fragments out of her bag and gave a sigh of relief. "I can still see them glowing. It's a lot fainter, but I should still be able to detect them."

"Interesting," said Miroku. "You'd think that if she had priestess abilities still, she'd end up purifying herself."

"Sango's coming," said Shippo suddenly.

"That's just peachy," said Inuyasha disinterestedly, leaning against a tree and closing his eyes.

"Hey guys—" Sango stopped in her tracks, and dropped Kirara, who mewed angrily, and curled up next to Shippo. She gaped at Kagome, and her face went stark white.

"I seem to be getting that reaction out of everybody." Kagome commented.

"Kagome? Is that you?"

Kagome nodded silently. Sango stared at her for a second more, then turned towards the rest of them.

"Well?" Sango asked.

"Well what?" Asked Inuyasha.

"What happened?"

"What do you think? It was Naraku's dart."

Sango looked confused. "But…why would he do that?"

"Because either Naraku knows something we don't, or he's a fucking idiot." Surprisingly, this came from Kagome, looking disgruntled. The group stared at her. "What? I have a certifiable right to be pissed off right now." She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.

Inuyasha stared at her from the corner of his eyes. He wasn't sure how he felt about Kagome, but he did know one thing: she would always be beautiful in his eyes, whether she be hanyou or human, young or old. And she would always be Kagome.

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo eventually left Inuyasha and Kagome alone.

"What happened to your hand?" Inuyasha asked, "You were bleeding."

"I punched a window." Kagome replied simply. "Not one of my better plans."

Inuyasha snorted, then said quietly, "You alright about this whole thing?"

"For right now I am...I'm just worried about the strings attached."

"Me too," Inuyasha said. He stood up. "Come on and get me some food, wench, I'm hungry."  
  
"Sit!"

Inuyasha crashed into the ground.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"For being rude. Either ask politely or cook it yourself."

Inuyasha grumbled something under his breath. "Can you make some ramen?"

"The magic word?" Kagome prompted. Inuyasha looked confused, and Kagome just sighed.

"Never mind...just come on."

* * *

Please, if you read, always review. I want to know what people think, and it makes me want to slam my head on the computer desk when I work really hard on something, but I only get a few reviews. On my other account, I wrote something I absolutely hated, and got 334 reviews by the time I was finished, so it is somewhat discouraging to see that on fanfictions that I like I don't get a lot of reviews. 

A big thanks, however, to those who did review, and keep it up!

P.S. Anyone else think I should've slowed down the transformation? Lol, well, what's done is done. If you have suggestions, IM me on **xx super llama**. (Don't ask)


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